| Anecdotal Theory Contributor(s): Gallop, Jane (Author) |
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ISBN: 0822330385 ISBN-13: 9780822330387 Publisher: Duke University Press OUR PRICE: $23.36 Product Type: Paperback Published: November 2002 Annotation: "Jane Gallop's essays are lucid, bold, and timely: she gives us our time through a series of brilliant lenses. I'm always grateful for the intelligence, the edge, and the generosity of her vision. We would all be more lost without her."--Judith Butler, author of "Gender Trouble" "Gallop is our foremost comic theorist. Anecdotal theory, as she observes, is theory with a better sense of humor. Gallop shows us how to be smart and rigorous precisely by "refusing" to 'get serious, ' explaining how that imperative in fact makes literary critics relinquish what we do best. Lightening up without in any way producing theory 'lite': this is one formulation of Gallop's goal and considerable accomplishment, both here and throughout her career."--Joseph Litvak, author of "Strange Gourmets: Sophistication, Theory, and the Novel" |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Essays - Literary Criticism | Feminist |
| Dewey: 801.950 |
| LCCN: 2002003918 |
| Physical Information: 0.52" H x 5.3" W x 8.92" (0.56 lbs) 192 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: "Anecdote" and "theory" have diametrically opposed connotations: humorous versus serious, specific versus general, trivial versus overarching, short versus grand. Anecdotal Theory cuts through these oppositions to produce theory with a sense of humor, theorizing which honors the uncanny detail of lived experience. Challenging academic business as usual, renowned literary scholar Jane Gallop argues that all theory is bound up with stories and urges theorists to pay attention to the "trivial," quotidian narratives that theory all too often represses. Published during the 1990s, these essays are united through a common methodological engagement--writing that recounts a personal anecdote and then attempts to read that anecdote for the theoretical insights it affords. Gallop addresses many of the major questions of feminist theory, regularly revisiting not only '70s feminism, but also poststructuralism and the academy, for, as Gallop explains, the practice of anecdotal theory derives from psychoanalysis, deconstruction, and feminism. Whether addressing issues of pedagogy, the sexual position one occupies when on the academic job-market, bad-girl feminists, or the notion of sisterhood, these essays exemplify theory grappling with its own erotics, theory connected to the real. They are bold, illuminating, and--dare we say--fun. |